Sunday's Column - September 21, 2008

More by
Marilyn

I avoid drinking from water fountains because I think they may spread germs and illness. Have any studies been done on this subject? -Grace Cipressi, Philadelphia, Pa.In a study on commonly used surfaces in elementary schools, drinking fountains were discovered to harbor a huge number of micro-organisms-far larger than the number found on door handles and in restrooms, which are frequently cleaned and disinfected. While this doesn’t equate to spreading illness-which is much more difficult to study-it implies that public drinking fountains aren’t as clean as we’d like to think.

Why are all ketchup bottles labeled “tomato ketchup?” Is there any other kind? -Dick Case, Petroleum, W.Va.In the U.S., we know ketchup (also spelled “catsup”) as a bright-red puree of tomatoes, green peppers, and onions prepared with vinegar and spices. But in England, ketchup also refers to a liquid seasoning that may contain mushrooms, walnuts, or oysters. Elsewhere in the world, ketchup covers a wide range of dipping sauces based in anchovies, other fish, and more.

I saw a portion of an upside-down rainbow early one afternoon. Yet it was a beautiful day with no rain in sight. How was this possible? -Melanie Henry, Russellville, Ala.This ethereal image is not a rainbow. Nicknamed a “CZA” (real name: circumzenithal arc, meaning “around the highest point”), the phenomenon is caused by sunlight shining through a transparent layer of tiny ice crystals hovering several miles above the Earth.

Most often, an observer sees the lower quarter of a circle high in the sky. Occasionally, a half-circle is visible. A whole circle of color never appears. The upper portion is always missing. This creates the appearance of an upside-down rainbow in the heavens. The arcs are much more common in the far north, but they’re often missed because people seldom look so far upward on a sunny day.

Why don’t we ever see unshelled cashews for sale? -John Ranck, Estell Manor, N.J.They wouldn’t be very popular. Cashews have two shells. Between them is a caustic oil that blisters human skin. The stuff is even used in insecticides. As if that weren’t enough, it teems with potent allergens. And when the nuts are roasted to inactivate the allergens, dangerous fumes are given off. Producing and processing cashews safely is a complicated business.

I have come across some garden snakes that gave me the creeps, mainly because they were little and hard to see. How small do snakes get, anyway? -Rachel Stein, White Plains, N.Y.You don’t want to vacation in Barbados, Rachel. The Caribbean island is where a U.S. evolutionary biologist recently discovered a tiny new species of snake-only four inches long-s neaking under a rock. He named it Leptotyphlops carlae after his wife Carla, a herpetologist. How romantic of him!

WORDS WE NEED

fizzlewit (noun) a person who has just told a joke that obviously is failing.